Pentagon declassifies 72 UFO case files: glowing red spheres, plasma orbs reported over northeastern US

The release is part of President Donald Trump’s directive to declassify government records on unidentified flying objects, officially termed unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). The new batch follows earlier dumps on 8 May and 22 May 2026.

Contents of the third release

The Pentagon posted 72 case files drawn from the archives of the CIA, FBI and the Defense Department. The collection includes 53 documents, 10 images, six videos and three audio recordings from NASA. Four of the videos are civilian witness recordings that the FBI collected and analysed; the footage was paired with interviews of the people who filmed them.

The red colour was incredibly bright and beautiful, I had never seen such a shade in my life.

Witness descriptions and patterns

One of the most detailed accounts centres on a February report based on FBI interviews with two witnesses. They described a blinding light that appeared suddenly in their backyard. The red sphere measured about one metre across and contained a white “plasma sun” the size of a basketball at its centre. A second orb was seen as well, with the two appearing to be “tied” together as they moved away. Weeks later the witnesses observed several white objects flying at very high altitude over the same area.

Another sighting, from July 2025 and titled “Northeastern Orb Sighting,” shows two glowing objects moving in the night sky. The Pentagon’s video description states the orbs’ motion was silent and smooth, moving in a coordinated way as if flying in formation or connected. In October 2024, a lake sighting labelled “Orbs Over the Pond” captured a plasma-like sphere that intermittently changed shape and brightness.

The glowing object resembled a plasma sphere that intermittently changed shape and brightness. At times, the main light source appeared to break into smaller luminous points.

A light point below the main source hovered just above the water and was not a reflection. The object remained mostly stationary for about 45 minutes before vanishing.

Earlier, in 2023, five federal agents saw strange spheres on the horizon. One recalled a colleague asking a question as a bright orb lit the night sky:

Do you see that?

The isolated lake and the FBI’s own observations

A resident of a remote area in the northeastern United States began recording the lights in 2021. He handed cellular-phone footage to the FBI in October 2024, claiming that each appearance coincided with unusual readings on his instruments, including gamma radiation spikes and GPS disruptions. The FBI did not confirm those readings but included the claims in its official files.

In November 2024 two agents visited the site. According to their report, they saw white and blue lights appear above the tree line and vanish suddenly. On another occasion they observed two bright objects over the lake that moved at high speed before disappearing. The agents took photographs, but the quality was poor. The exact coordinates of the lake are redacted.

CIA’s 1950s advice and the push for transparency

Among the newly public documents are files from a CIA-chartered Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects that met in 1952 and 1953. The panel concluded that “flying saucers” posed no physical threat but recommended a formal policy of debunking to strip the mystique from UFO reports.

The Trump administration has resumed a practice that began in the late 1970s, releasing batches of previously classified UAP material. The latest set is the third in a month, and officials have indicated more files will follow.